Greece Foreign Study Program

The Foreign Study Program in Greece provides students with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about ancient Greece by living, traveling, and studying in modern Greece. This FSP will help you become deeply familiar with not only with Greece's past, but also with its present, its people, and its landscape. We will spend a little more than half the semester in Athens, where we will live in apartments and take two classes, in English, at a local university: Topography and Monuments of Athens and Ancient Greek Mythology and Religion. We will spend the rest of the semester traveling to study, in person, some of the most famous ancient Greek sites; more specifically, we will take four trips, each one lasting about a week:

to the Peloponnese (Olympia, Mycenae, Epidauros, Sparta, etc.)
to central and northern Greece (Delphi, Meteora, Thessaloniki, Pella, Vergina, etc.)
to the islands (Crete, Santorini, Naxos, Mykonos, etc.)
to Sicily (Syracuse, Agrigento, Selinunte, Palermo, etc.).

If you are interested in this program, please contact Professor Paul Christesen right away to talk about the details of the trip and the application process.

FAQs

How many students participate in the program?

 

Enrollment is limited to 15 students

How long does the program run? 
We arrive in Athens in late March, and the program ends in the first week of June

How do the classes in Athens work?
Professor Paul Christesen, a member of Dartmouth's Department of Classics, will go to Greece with the FSP group and be there the entire quarter. You will take two courses, with instructors permanently based in Athens; the only students in those classes will be members of the FSP group. During the travel weeks, you will work directly with Professor Christesen, who will organize and lead the trips.

Do I need to know how to speak (modern) Greek?
No, all classes are conducted in English, and English is widely spoken in Greece. There will, however, be opportunities to learn modern Greek while we are in Athens; learning some modern Greek during the program is encouraged but not required.

Do I need to know how to read Latin or ancient Greek?
No knowledge of ancient Greek or Latin is required.

Do I need to major in Classics in order to participate in the program?
No, typically about half of each FSP group consists of students who are not Classics majors.

What is the (first) application deadline?
1 February 2024

 

Curriculum

Coursework consists of quizzes, short papers, and oral reports as well as text and image contributions to a program-based Web site. Since no library is readily available, students will learn how to go about analyzing objects, buildings, and topographical and historical problems through on-site observation. All students participating in the Greece FSP take the following three courses:

  • Classical Studies 30.90: Classical Art and Archaeology: Study Abroad
  • Classical Studies 30.91: Classical Art and Archaeology: Study Abroad
  • Classical Studies 31.90: Ancient History: Study Abroad

Prerequisites

The standard slate of prerequisites consists of three courses chosen from those listed below, but each applicant should discuss with the Faculty Director how s/he might fulfill the required prerequisites.

The more academic preparation done ahead of time, the more rewarding the experience abroad tends to be. Students are urged to take more than three of the courses listed below if they can fit them into their schedules. A grade of B- or better is required in these courses in order for them to count as a prerequisite for the program.

  • Classical Studies 6:  Introduction to Classical Archaeology
  • Classical Studies 11: Special Topics in Greek and Roman History (when taught on a Greek topic)
  • Classical Studies 12: Special Topics in Greek and Roman Archaeology (when taught on a Greek topic)
  • Classical Studies 14: History of Archaic and Classical Greece
  • Classical Studies 15: Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Kings
  • Classical Studies 19: Theories and Methods in Ancient History (when taught on a Greek topic)
  • Classical Studies 20: Greek Prehistoric Archaeology: The Emergence of Civilization in the Aegean
  • Classical Studies 21: From Disaster to Triumph: Greek Archaeology from the Destruction of Mycenae to the Persian Wars
  • Classical Studies 22: Greek Classical Archaeology: City-States and Pan-hellenic Sanctuaries
  • Greek 11:  Modern Greek 1 (or its equivalent)

Under special circumstances and with the consent of the program director, certain courses taught in the Department of Art History may be used to fulfill one of the prerequisites.

Tuition & Fees

The fees charged by the College for a Dartmouth-sponsored off-campus term of study include regular tuition charges for a term at Dartmouth, as well as the specific costs established for each off-campus study locale. In many programs, the room and board costs tend to be higher than for a term in Hanover. You can view a budget sheet for this program by clicking here. The cost of transportation to and from the site is the responsibility of the student.

Financial Aid

In order that all qualified Dartmouth undergraduate students may have the opportunity to take part in off-campus programs, the College endeavors to adjust its normal financial aid awards for students already receiving aid. Tuition and expected family contribution for Dartmouth's off-campus programs are the same as for an on-campus term. Assistance is available to meet extra costs associated with off-campus programs, including airfare. Half of any extra cost is met with additional Dartmouth scholarship; loan assistance is offered for the other half. Loan assistance is also offered to replace the employment that would normally be included in an on-campus term. Although financial aid recipients are given aid to cover all of the required costs of the program, students are responsible for purchasing their own plane ticket and, on some programs, meals. Often this means that part of the expected family contribution is used towards these costs rather than for tuition.